US blacklist of counterfeit peddlers is the latest flashpoint in a potential trade row with China

The decision by the United States Trade Representative to keep the world’s largest online shopping platform on its blacklist of counterfeit peddlers is a politicised process to create a scapegoat in a trade row between the two biggest economies on earth, said Alibaba Group Holdings.

Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post and operator of the Taobao family of e-commerce market places, was put on the 2017 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets list on January 11, because they were named by small and medium US enterprises for enforcement action more than any other platform, said the report.

That action ignored the efforts made on enforcements, where 98 per cent of proactive takedowns of counterfeit products were made before any sales could be transacted on Taobo, where 97 per cent of takedown requests were handled within 24 hours, said Alibaba’s president Michael Evans.

“In light of all this, it’s clear that no matter how much action we take and progress we make, the USTR is not actually interested in seeing tangible results,” Evans said. “Therefore, our inclusion on its list is not an accurate representation of Alibaba’s results in protecting brands and IP, and we have no other choice but to conclude that this is a deeply flawed, biased and politicised process.”

The USTR’s list may be the latest flashpoint in the trade relations between the word’s two biggest economies, where a yawning surplus had widened in China’s favour, increasing by 8.6 per cent in 2017 to a record US$275.8 billion. Combined with threats by the Donald Trump administration to slap import tariffs on Chinese products, the prospect of a tit-for-tat dispute is rising.